


Another McDuck Family Mystery

by drstrangefictions



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Crack (but make it a filler chapter), Family Feels, Family Fluff, Family Shenanigans, Fillers (but the chapter title will tell you if it is), Gen, Light Angst, Mostly likely Medium Angst but it's some kind of angst, Time Travel (but make it insufferable), i am definitely projecting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-12 17:20:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29638002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drstrangefictions/pseuds/drstrangefictions
Summary: Scrooge McDuck is notorious for keeping secrets, but his secrets are also notorious for knocking on his front door. When one of his many secrets comes knocking on his front door, Webby and Dewey take it upon themselves to dig up all the information they can get on this secret to fight their everlasting boredom. They have deemed this secret to be Another McDuck Family Mystery! Huey takes it upon himself to question Scrooge directly for answers. Louie just gets along with the secret and teaches her his ways.
Relationships: Della Duck & Original Character(s), Dewey Duck & Original Character(s), Donald Duck & Original Character(s), Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera & Original Character(s), Gyro Gearloose & Original Character(s), Huey Duck & Original Character(s), Launchpad McQuack & Original Character(s), Lena (Disney:DuckTales) & Original Character(s), Louie Duck & Original Character(s), Scrooge McDuck & Original Character(s), Violet Sabrewing & Original Character(s), Webby Vanderquack & Original Character(s)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> There is no Beta reader for this Fanfiction (nor do I want one); please read at your own risk. I edit everything myself and it takes hundreds of years for me to release content because I don't post until I am happy with the content.  
> This is my first piece on AO3, I am new to writing on the site (I'm on Tumblr under the same user, and I used to be on Wattpad under a different user).  
> I write things that I want to see, it is not everyone's cup of tea.  
> I don't write OC Inserts often, this is actually my first official OC Insert (and first one with effort).  
> I do not update frequently; I am a university student (Junior/3rd Year), I work Part Time, I have at-home responsibilities.  
> This is a LongFic! I do not know (at this time) how long this is going to be, I do not know what the plot is, I do not know if I will add more relationships, I don't know what I'm doing! I have ZERO plan! I may rewrite episodes, have fillers, etc! Again, read at your own risk!

Scrooge was stopped on his way back to his study by a rapid banging on the front door. It was significantly louder than the storm slowly beginning to rage outside. He stood, wondering if his mind had begun to play tricks on him during the storm – perhaps a branch or something had made its way towards the door. He knew for a fact that he wasn’t expecting any one tonight, especially not _after_ the family dinner. The kids could have been expecting someone – however, none of them have mentioned any new friends or having company tonight. He turned to face the approaching children, but his eyes were still glued to the door with an eerie curiosity.

The kids caught up to him and surrounded him. “What’s wrong, Uncle Scrooge?” Huey asked, being the child brave enough to ask.

He peeled his eyes away from the door and looked down at the eager-to-know-everything children. They huddled, waiting for some kind of response – good, bad, funny, sad. “Nothing lad, just thought I heard something.” He turned away from the four children to continue making his way back to his study. He had brought some work home again – not that he was going to do it at home. He was going to bring it back to the Money Bin and work on it there. Tonight, was different than most nights, it seemed more like the perfect night to sit in his desk chair and reminisce about someone other than Della.

The knocking started again, louder and far more rapid than the first time. The knocker was desperate to come inside. “I-is anyone home? I’m looking for, a uh, Scrooge McDuck.” The woman behind the door carried a shaky Scottish accent. One would assume she was afraid of the storm raging just behind her. Scrooge, however, figured the fearfulness in her voice ran far deeper than just a little rain.

“It’s for you.” Dewey nudged his uncle towards the door. Webby nudged Dewey and shot him a look of disapproval towards his action. Dewey shrugged at his friend’s disapproval; his uncle had to answer the door at some point, did he not?

Louie shoved his hands in the pocket of his hoodie and fiddled with his phone. “Who would be looking for you this late at night? Doesn’t that seem kind of weird?” He glanced around at his siblings and Webby.

“We went to Atlantis and this is what you’re calling weird?” Huey stared at Louie, expecting his question to be more rhetoric than serious.

Louie looked at his brother. “Well Atlantis was an adventure, this is not.”

Scrooge remained silent as the children talked amongst themselves, he drowned out their babbling with his thoughts. They had become loud, almost screaming against his eardrums. He knew who that voice belonged to and he knew that last time he heard that voice. Part of Scrooge wanted to believe that it was possible for her to have returned after that long; he had his doubts. The other part of him thought that this was some kind of joke with the intention of being cruel – very few people know of her but none of those few people would be so cruel.

“It can’t be…” His voice trailed off. He was drawn to the door in a trance like state.

_“Augh! Scroogey... you dastardly man. I cannae believe I fell for your tricks again. This is the twelfth time that I had believed you about being able to break a stone wall. I thought it was going to be a secret door this time… and every time for that matter!” She grinned, speaking with joy and anger. “I cracked a lens in my glasses again – now I need new ones. I don’t like to spend your money, Scroogey…” She pushed him into the wall playfully. She trotted down the crumbing stone steps to ensure that if anymore boobytraps were to go off, she would be the one to cause them to. She grumbled something about Scrooge and boobytraps. Scrooge didn’t catch a lick of what she said because she was speaking too low for him to hear._

_Scrooge stepped away from the wall she had pushed him into and followed behind her. “I spend enough money on you, don’t I?” He chuckled, he never seemed to care about how much money he spends on his little sister. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t get her for any reason. “Don’t you worry about me spending money on you. Soon I’ll be the richest duck in the world, and it won’t matter!” He elbowed the wall next to him after trying to outstretch his arms in celebration and triggered yet another trap. It seemed to be the only thing the pair have been doing on this adventure. “Oh no.”_

_Charlette grabbed his hand hastily. “Oh no? Run, you fool! Run, and don’t stand there!” She dashed down the remainder of the stone stairs and towards an unstable bridge in order to escape the flying arrows that only narrowly missed the McDuck siblings. “I’d rather fall off this bridge than you set off another ghastly trap!” She quipped._

He swiftly opened the front door to reveal a young duck practically hugging herself. She was dripping wet and partially muddy. Her clothes were tattered, a few bare patches on her arms, feathers ruffled, and hair disastrous. The glasses that rested on her bill had a crack on one lens. _She ran into that stone wall._ She looked the same as the day he lost her.

The children were huddled around the door. “Uncle Scrooge, who is she? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Dewey asked, pulling his uncle away from his thoughts.

Scrooge blinked at the duck in front of him. “You.”

“Are you going to let her in, Uncle Scrooge?” Huey peered outside. The weather didn’t seem to be letting up, in fact it looked like it was only getting worse the longer Huey watched it.

Scrooge pulled the girl into the manor and into his arms without another thought. They sank to the floor in a tight, emotional embrace. Scrooge felt his eyes begin to water. “It has been 105 years, Charlette. Where have you been this whole time?” He held her at arm’s length by the shoulders and studied her still young face. “You haven’t even aged a day. You look as young as the day I… _lost_ … you...” Scrooge trailed off at the last sentence, realizing maybe she really hadn’t aged by way of some curse or other.

Charlette’s eyes widened, tears began to form as she realized… “ _105_ _years?_ ” She nearly screamed. “Is that how long I’ve been gone. I-I… Scroogey, I thought I had just had that fall… and you weren’t there –! I – is that why everything has changed so much? Is that why you look _older_ …?” She began crying, despite trying to joke with him over his age and he had always hated it. She was very confused and scared and the only thing she could do was distract herself. Scrooge could feel her shaking in his grasp. She didn’t want to believe she had lost time with the only person she could safely consider family. She gripped his forearms and searched his eyes for any hint of him joking or pranking her. _It really has to be a sick joke_ , she thought. She couldn’t see the answer she desperately wanted to see in his eyes. Nor did Scrooge speak up.

Scrooge pulled her close to him again. “It’s okay, lass. I’m here now. You’re here with me again. I looked everywhere for you. I never wanted to believe that you were really gone. No one could figure out what happened to you.”

She quickly wrapped her arms around him and never wanted to let go of him again.

Huey glanced at a few of her cuts. “Uncle Scrooge, she’s bleeding. We should clean her wounds… I know where the first aid kit is! I’ll go grab it.” He tucked his Junior Woodchuck guide beneath his arm and ran off to grab the first aid kit.

Scrooge nodded. “Good, yes.” He turned, only to notice that the one child he was talking to had already run off from the rest of them. “Eugh… C’mon lass, let’s go get you cleaned up.” Scrooge smiled softly at Charlette. He slowly let her go and stood up.

Charlette reluctantly let her older brother go. She watched him stand up – old or not, he can still move in ways she can’t at her young age. She glanced around at the remaining ducks. She began to pull herself to her feet, only to be pulled back to the floor by her own unwillingness. Scrooge swiftly grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to her feet himself. Fear and uncertainty clouded her eyes as he looked at them again. She kept her hand around his wrist tightly, doing her best to ignore the murmurs of the three children talking to each other.

Scrooge had begun to drag her down the hall in the direction that Huey fled. She was resistant, it required more effort than Scrooge was expecting to drag her towards Huey. She had begun to slow down more when she noticed some of her Charlette original paintings had been replaced by paintings done by others. Not to say that they were bad, but the lack of her artwork along the walls was a little disheartening to her. She hoped there was a good reason for her artwork to be missing from the hall. She had even noticed every portrait of her had been replaced by a different family member – as if she didn’t exist in the first place…

_They moved along the bridge to another dark hall. They walked through in silence, now paying more attention to the ground and walls in case they set off something they may not be able to escape. Once out of the hall, Scrooge came face to face with a problem and a pile of gold and gems. “Look at that! Look at all that treasure!” He yelled. His voice echoed in the chamber. “We just need to get across without falling to our untimely death.”_

_“Oh, I believe I have the perfect thing for that,” Charlette unhooked a grappling hook from her belt buckle. “Now, if I can just reach that space without hitting anything else, I can get us across.” She smiled, aiming her grappling hook way above them. “I’m afraid that if we swing too low, we may injure ourselves. Best to go high. Now, with those gems over there, can I use some to finish decorating my room?”_

_“No, Charlette.” Scrooge brushed her off, she would not be using any of his treasure for her art this time, maybe next time. “Now be careful when you fire that thing, you never know if there are any other traps.”_

_“Be careful, he says. The man jumps into a pile of gold like it doesn’t hurt. You’re old and frail and I’m the one that needs to be careful!” She hisses. She fired her grappling hook without hitting anything but her target. The hook latched into the small space she was aiming for. “Are you ready, Scroogey?” She offered her brother her hand._

_Scrooge gladly wrapped his arm around her, if he had taught her anything, it was to get herself out of trouble and to think outside the box. “Ready, but only because I taught you everything you know.” He chuckled. “You won’t drop me, right?”_

_“Charming… I think I should drop you.” She held him tightly and swung them halfway across the chamber before…_

_Scrooge felt a hard surface beneath him, he looked up to see debris falling and a slight glint of the hook at the end of Charlette’s grappling hook. Panic washed over him as he desperately looked around himself and below him for any sign of Charlette. “CHARLETTE!” He called. He received no answer._

“So… Uncle Scrooge, you never told us who she is.” Dewey pointed out. He started watching Charlette like a hawk – he recognized that she was uncertain but couldn’t guess why. She looked frazzled, whipping he head back and forth as they walk down the hall moving her eyes to look at ever little detail. Dewey figured it was a good thing they she was holding onto his uncle tightly as they walked.

Scrooge glanced at Dewey for a brief moment, tugging Charlette along. He thought about how to answer his nephew – it wasn’t necessarily that this was a loaded question, it was more of an answer that would shock them all. “My long-lost sister.” Scrooge considered it best to put it simply.

He was used to dragging her along with her, when she was younger every little thing seemed to interest her, and he would have to guide her to ensure that she wouldn’t run into anything or lose her footing. He did notice what she was looking at, he felt bad for having replaced all of her artwork from the halls of McDuck Manor. The reason he had them replaced was because they were hers. They were far too precious to keep in harm’s way once finding her was considered a lost cause. Her comfort zone and coping mechanism had always been the arts, she was the most creative duck he had ever laid eyes on. She never failed to sneak a gem or two from his study into her jar of “gems to use later”.

Webby clenched her fists and squealed at a frequency none of them should have been able to hear. “Another McDuck family mystery! Scrooge McDuck’s long-lost sister! There is no information about her anywhere – not even in the archives.” Webby grabbed Dewey’s arm and grinned. “Let’s go uncover the mystery of her disappearance and try to figure out why she returned!” She threw their arms in the air and cheered.

Dewey cheered with her, “Woo! New mystery, not bored!” Dewey dragged Webby back in the direction that they came from. Their current objective was the find the truth before Scrooge tells them (in their minds that’s if he ever tells them).

“My sister is not one of your mysteries to solve!” Scrooge called after them, knowing that they were way too far to be able to hear him by now. “Curse me kilts, those two. Their grubby little hands in things they shouldn’t be. If they could just wait –.”

Charlette looked behind them in the direction that the two ran off in. “Uhm…”

Louie walked beside her, scrolling through his social media as they walked. “Don’t mind them. They like to solve mysteries and go on adventures like _all_ the time.” He shoved his phone in his pocket for a moment. “So, are you really related to my uncle?” He asked.

She looked at Louie, he sounded uninterested, yet he wanted to know. “I, uh, am.” She nodded.

“She is lad, now why don’t you go get Beakley to help Huey. Meet us in the family room.” Scrooge told him.

Louie shrugged. “Sure.” He spun on his heel and went to go find Bentina. He didn’t really mind what the task was, it’s not like he was asked to do anything important or something that required effort.

Scrooge and Huey, who just happened to be returning with the first aid, walked Charlette into a small living room area. Charlette sat down on the center of the couch, examining her surroundings. She noticed there were a lot of dusty and worn books, many of which she may have already read had she been able to read the titles from the couch. She saw Huey slipping out of the room, perhaps to grab something else.

“Uncle Scrooge?” She turned to Scrooge, relatively confused. Scrooge was once a family person, but his presence used to upset everyone during the holidays for the first few years of her life. Charlette furrowed her eyebrows, remembering how Hortense was so enraged with his unpleasant nature and Matilda was merely upset with it. Yet, Charlette couldn’t recall a moment in her life where _she_ felt he was unpleasant, it was always everyone else in the family.

“Hortense had twins, Della and Donald. Della had three sons. Huey, the red one that’s trying to fix you up. He’s a bright kid. Dewey is the blue one who ran off to solve _another_ McDuck Family Mystery. And, Louie, the green one, he likes planning things and being devious.” Scrooge sat down next to her. “The girl that ran off with Dewey, Webby, is the housekeeper’s granddaughter, she’s my honorary niece. Loves adventuring and solving mysteries. A little obsessed with the family if you ask me.” He said, brushing some dirt off of Charlette’s shoulder.

Charlette shook her head, taken aback, “Honorary niece? Is that allowed?”

Scrooge held in a small chuckle, “Of course it is! you wouldn’t know because you’re just not a family person like myself.” He let out the small chuckle and looked at his sister.

“Ahh…” She clasped her hands together and sat awkwardly on the couch.

Huey returned to the room with a towel and placed it on the coffee table. He picked the first aid kit up and struggled to pop it open. “If I could just… augh –.”

Bentina grabbed the container from his hands and popped it open. “Here, Louie said you needed me and now I see why.” She handed the first aid kit back to Huey and walked past him to take a look at Charlette’s small injuries. “These don’t look bad at all. Just a little bit of blood.”

“Better safe than sorry, especially since this is Uncle Scrooge’s long-lost sister! He wouldn’t want her to bleed out of a small cut!” Huey rummaged through the first aid to grab a few bandages and antibacterial gel.

“Long-lost sister?” Bentina looked between Huey, Scrooge and Charlette. She cleared her throat, “She won’t bleed out. Give me the bandages.” She held out her hand for the bandages and the antibacterial gel. “This might sting, not sure how well you handle stinging.” She warned Charlette. She wiped her arm with a damp hand towel to clean the area of dirt, then put a dollop of gel on each bandage she used for the small open wounds.

She was right, it did sting, but it didn’t faze Charlette too much. With the number of times Charlette got thrown around or fell from something, she is still surprised she can feel. She just smiled shyly. “Thank you, Mrs. B, and you too, Huey.” She made sure to mention Huey because he noticed the bleeding and clearly cared that she was. Not that any harm would have come from a few small, open wounds. Charlette used to always ignore them.

“Mr. McDuck explain yourself. Long-lost sister?” Bentina stood up and stared down at her boss. She had heard the stories of her; she was one of the few that knew. She also heard the rumors of how she disappeared but never got the story from Scrooge himself. She never expected Charlette McDuck to return looking the age she was apparently lost at.

“You know the story, Mrs. Beakley. And, AND she just showed up at the door a few minutes ago. I had nothing to do with her return.” Scrooge told her, becoming defensive about the situation. “She was lost, and everyone told me to stop searching. None of the kids know about her and she shows up, suddenly you’re curious again?”

“I just wanted an answer, Mr. McDuck. I do remember the story I was told…” Bentina trailed off. She turned her attention back to Charlette, “You must be hungry.”

Charlette kept her gaze away from Bentina and Scrooge. She thought for a moment, she hadn’t realized how hungry she was when she came. “I am.”

Louie came into the room, already bored with doing nothing. He stood by Huey.

“I’ll go make something for you to eat.” Bentina turned to Scrooge. “Mr. McDuck, may I speak with you?” She left the room with Scrooge in tow.

“Wait, you do not ha – and she’s gone… I could have made myself something…” She sat awkwardly on the couch and looked at the two boys. Huey was staring at her curiously, he seemed like he would explode. “So… you are Scrooge’s… grandnephews…?” Charlette asked.

“Yours too,” Huey told her, climbing onto the couch next to her. “You’re our great-aunt. You have one more grandnephew, but he ran off with Webby. You’ll love it here with all of us. Do you still like adventuring? What do you like to do for fun?”

Charlette looked at the door then back at Huey. “Well, I think I still like adventuring despite this entire mess I am not understanding. That’s really all I’ve ever done. Adventuring and bothering Scrooge.” She wrung her wrists. “I’m really not that interesting.”

Louie sat on the other side of her. “Do you want a tour of the things that have changed?” He asked.

“I would appreciate that, yes.” She nodded.

~~~

Scrooge made his was towards the dining room after leaving Charlette clean up and put on some clean clothing, he felt the need be there when Charlette sits down to eat. He figured that eating alone was the last thing she wanted today. He stopped in his tracks upon hearing two sets of running footsteps approach him. He turned and saw Huey and Louie.

“Uncle Scrooge, I have some questions,” Huey said after coming to a stop.

“What kind of questions, lad?” He asked, waiting for Huey to ramble a list or ask the questions one-by-one.

“Why have we never heard about Charlette? What happened to her? Are you serious about her being gone for 105 years?” Huey began asking. These kids were very curious.

Louie jumped in with a single question. “How much younger than you is she?”

Scrooge didn’t know what kind of questions he was expecting but he should have expected ones about his sister. “I’m not answering anything about her right now, lad. Don’t go asking her either. Your mother said so.”

“Awh what, that’s not fair!” Louie mocked Huey’s tone sarcastically. “Let’s go find Dewey and Webby.” Louie already began walking away to find his brother and their friend.

“But –.” Huey looked between Scrooge and Louie, who was continuing to walk away, and ultimately followed Louie.

Scrooge continued on his way to the dining room. He paused for a moment in front of a portrait of himself that Charlette painted in 1910. He couldn’t help but smile at it. She always had to exaggerate how grumpy he looked, but her attention to detail is what made him forgive her over exaggeration of his personality. He shook his head at the lone Charlette original and continued to walk. He met Bentina in the dining room.

“Ah, Mr. McDuck. Is your sister still getting ready?” Bentina asked, placing a steaming plate next to Scrooge’s usual spot.

“Probably,” he said, taking a seat at the head of the table. “I will be keeping her company.”

Charlette walked into the room shortly after it grew silent between Scrooge and Bentina. “You remodeled.” She fiddled with the hem of the nightshirt and slowly walked in and took a seat next to Scrooge where the plate was set. “Thank you.” She quickly said to Bentina as she left. As soon as Bentina was out of sight, Charlette began eating faster than she normally would. After all, she hadn’t eaten in 105 years!

“Slow down! You’re going to choke on your food,” Scrooge scolded her. Oh, how he missed this. _This chaotic child… she’ll fit right in…_

Charlette glanced at him for having the audacity to tell her what to do. “I’m starving,” she said with her mouth full, she held a hand under her bill in case food fell out while she spoke. “Leave me to be a heathen.”

“That is the least lady-like thing I think I have ever seen.” He missed this misbehavior from her. She was notorious for making everyone outside of herself and Scrooge believe she was a proper lady. She had almost always been different, as far as Scrooge could remember – more like him than anyone else in the family, with a little extra mess added in.

“Lady-like?” Charlette raised an eyebrow at her brother. “Whatever does that mean?” She said, nearly choking as she spoke. “Sorry.” She continued to shovel the contents of her plate into her mouth. She has never tasted anything this delightful in her life. “This is the best meal I have ever had.”

“Mrs. Beakley made it, I will make sure to let her know that you enjoyed it,” Scrooge said and Bentina returned to the room with a cup of tea for Scrooge.

“No need, I overhead.” She pushed the cup of tea in front of him. “I’m glad you like it.” She left the room again.

Charlette smiled, having a warm fuzzy feeling on the inside. She might enjoy it here after all. All of her anxieties temporarily melted away as she sat with her brother. At the moment, all that mattered was herself and her brother. The futuristic world beyond the dining room meant nothing to her for the time being. The heads of Dewey and Webby peeking through the open door meant nothing to her.

Scrooge didn’t seem to have noticed that Charlette was worry free as he looked at her with concern. “I’ve kept your bedroom clean all these years. You never finished decorating.” He took a long sip of his tea. “Do you still want to use some gems for decorating the last two walls?”

“I most certainly do.” She pushed the empty plate away from her and fiddled with the edge of the tablecloth. “Everything has changed so much…”

Scrooge kept an eye on her hands. “I know, lass. It will take time for you to get used to everything. You’ve only been here for two, almost three, hours. You cannae expect to be comfortable with change so quickly.”

She nodded. “I know, I know…”


	2. The Last Crash of the Sunchaser! (Off-Screen)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did someone say: additional info-dumping?  
> No? Oh, well, that sucks.  
> I did mention that family is terrible right? No? Well, family sucks right now and honestly... I might have been projecting. It gets better eventually. Maybe.

Charlette stood by the door with a packed bag hanging on her shoulder and an eager smile. This was going to be the first adventure with the family – Scrooge, Huey, Dewey, Louie, Donald, Bentina, Webby, and Launchpad. She was used to the old ways of adventuring, not that they were much different from the new ways – thinking outside of the box, not following the rules, preparedness versus unpreparedness, tools. The two biggest differences are technology and the fact that this is to be part vacation, not actually an adventure. Charlette was excited. It was going to be a great first “welcome back into the world” adventure and she had all of her new favorite people with her (oh, and Scrooge, too).

“What do you think you’re doing with that bag?’ Scrooge approached her.

“I was just waiting for you, I wanted to walk out together. You know, like we used to.” She gripped the strap of her bag. She felt her eagerness and excitement begin to dwindle. “I’m excited for this little trip, my first trip out into the world since being back.” She spun around and faced the door.

Scrooge grabbed her shoulder. “You’re not coming, lass.”

She took her hand off the doorknob but kept her eyes on it. She let out an airy, disappointed laugh. “You’ve always been terrible at telling jokes to me. You’re funnier when you’re trying to amuse everyone else.”

Scrooge took his hand away. “I’m not joking this time.”

She spun back around to face him. She should have guessed by his initial tone that he was going to say something to break her spirit. “You’re leaving me here alone?”

“Don’t be daft, Donald is staying behind too. He hasn’t been much of an adventurer since… well in years.” Scrooge tried to make her feel better about his decision to leave her behind and put his cane straight through her heart. “We won’t be gone for too long.”

She let her bag slip of her shoulder. For a brief moment, the only sound either of them heard was the thump her bag made against the floor. It resembled the sound of her happiness hitting the floor. “Why are you not letting me come? This is… so unlike you?”

Scrooge picked up her bag and handed it to her. “You’re not ready to get back out into the world. You’ve only been home for a few weeks. With us being away, you’ll have plenty of time to learn all sorts of things. Think of it as eliminating distractions.” He smiled and walked out the door.

Charlette stood in front of the closed door, still facing the foyer. She would’ve loved to argue with him about this, but she didn’t have the energy to, nor did she really want to. It seemed that the only time they didn’t argue was on an adventure – she was so used to butting heads that it felt nice not to. She couldn’t figure out why he was against her joining them on this trip when they had nothing dangerous really planned (save for Launchpad doing anything). She couldn’t help but feel a little betrayed and a little left out. She was hoping that Scrooge was right and that staying home with Donald being the only distraction would be a great opportunity for her. She set her bag down next to the door and walked out.

Dewey turned to face Charlette and noticed that her hands were empty. “Is your stuff already packed? Are you coming with us?”

She shook her head and shoved her hands in the pockets on her cargo pants. “Not this time, Dewey. Next time for sure, I’m counting on you to make sure of it.” She smiled at her brother. She made sure that he knew what she had said. “I’m going to take this time to relax and recover. Maybe learn a thing or two while you crazy adventurers are gone.”

“Ugh, sounds boring. Relaxing? Learning?” Dewey shook his head. “Just another old person doing old person things. Where’s the adventurer that you used to be?” He nudged her, making some kind of effort to make her change her mind.

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I’m old… get over it.”

Donald walked by the group with lumber in his arms, he was headed around the manor with some supplied to continue patching up the houseboat (that may he remind you, Dewey left the engine running and that is the reason they are living with Scrooge).

Huey sped after Donald. “C’mon Uncle Donald, you can fix the houseboat when we get back.” He tried to convince him to join them on their adventure-vacation since they had just recently been knocked down a family member.

Donald turned to face Huey, nearly taking his head off in the process, and shook his head. He smiled proudly. “Uh-uh. I’m almost done. We’ll be on the water again in two days!” The houseboat rumbled behind the manor, meaning something must’ve broke again. He winced. “Seven days.”

Behind the manor, the houseboat seemingly had an explosion. Charlette whipped around the look at the rising smoke. “Oh gosh.”

Donald sighed, “I should get started.” Donald turned away, nearly taking Huey’s head off with the lumber yet again and took in the fact that all of his work has just gone to waste.

Charlette jogged after Donald. “I’m coming to help!”

Dewey waved them off. “No rush. Seriously, work as slow as possible because the two of you will be working on the houseboat.”

~~~

“Hey, Donald,” Charlette said. She set the broom against the windowpane and looked at her nephew (her nephew – Donald Duck – the 30-something year old. It was definitely hard for her to come to terms with the fact that her nephew is physically older than her because she is really only 19). She didn’t wait for him to say anything or make any sound in response. “I just want to tell you how much I admire your dedication to your family – to these boys. You know, just by being here for a few weeks and getting to know them, I’m sure they were a handful and then some.”

Donald closed his toolbox for a moment and stood up. He was interested in what she had to say as he couldn’t figure out where she was going with her little speech to him. He nodded slightly. “They are kids, they are going to be a handful.”

She grabbed the broom and twirled it in her hand. “Kids will be kids. But I don’t know, I don’t think I’ve really met anyone like you. All I had ever known was Scrooge, Hortense, and Matilda. My sisters did their best, but when you’re growing up between 1894 and 1913, things are a bit different than now. They tried to make me conform to “social norms”, as Louie says. Scrooge let me run amuck and be exactly what I wasn’t supposed to be.

“I guess what I’m trying to say is… I can clearly see the difference between you raising these kids versus the people that raised me. I think Hortense would be very proud to call you her son. She sure as hell wasn’t proud to call me her sister.” Charlette grinned at the last part. As bad as she felt for being a rotten sibling, she found the humor in it. “You put so much time and effort into these boys’ lives and it’s just amazing to see.”

Donald smiled. Charlette may not be the best with her words (which is now apparent to him – but neither is he so…) but she knows how to appreciate something even if it isn’t her place to really appreciate it. “It was never my plan to take the boys in. I did and I don’t regret it one bit.”

Charlette sunk to the floor and began screwing the bottom part of the broom back not the broomstick because, as she had just learned, certain types of brooms are detachable. “I think you are aware but… coming home was a bit too overwhelming.” She stood up and placed the broom back against the windowpane, now knowing that she probably shouldn’t twirl it against the floor.

“Between the new things and new faces, I would think so.” Donald had only met her after she had finished eating that day, they didn’t exactly talk that day either. Just a simple introduction and Donald let her be. It wasn’t until the 5th day that Donald had gone to her to check on her and talk to her. “We didn’t talk to each other for almost a week.”

“I was starting to worry that my own nephew was going to end up not liking me,” she said. She put her hands in her pockets and rocked from heel to toe. “It was scary, waking up to nothing but rocks and sand and dust. No Scrooge, no gear, no treasure. There was absolutely nothing and I was alone. If I didn’t remember how to get back to civilization… I have no idea what I would have done. Oh! And don’t even let me talk about that.”

“That bad?” Donald indulged. He felt like she had a thing or two she needed to get off her chest and hasn’t yet.

“Awful!” Her voice jumped a whole octave. “Everything was new and weird! Ugh, I was going to lose my mind. I think I spent 4 days crying before I could try to get myself home.”

Donald’s jaw dropped slightly, and his eyes widened. “4?!”

Charlette nodded. “4! I finally got back to Duckburg, and goodness, was that also scary. On top of that, it was storming out. I got so lucky…”

“I wouldn’t call that lucky –.”

She raised a finger to indicate that she wasn’t done. “Before I never get to what I want to say, let me say it. I don’t think I would change any of this for the world. Maybe I’m speaking too soon, but I think coming home to a bunch of overwhelming children was one of the best things. Every time Scrooge and I would return we were always met with silence. I’m still overwhelmed, I’m still terrified out of my mind, I have no idea what else I am feeling… but I think meeting you, the boys, and Webby just makes it all better.” She picked up the broom again and leaned on it.

“I thought you were going to tell me that you hated it.” Donald almost laughed. “The kids really like you. I think you’ll be just fine.”

She kicked the broom lightly. “Uh sorry for, you know, just telling you almost everything. I appreciate you listening to me. I don’t think… I don’t think I could ever really say something like this to Scrooge.”

Donald didn’t respond. He was honored, in a way, to be the one that she had decided to share her feeling with, but he felt like there was more to the reason. He decided for now that he would leave the issue be. He carried his toolbox back inside the houseboat and swapped it for the paint that they needed. It was the last thing they needed to do before they were officially finished. When he walked back out, he placed the paint by her and took the broom back inside.

“Should we add plants to the windowpane?” Donald asked, mostly just thinking out loud. He wasn’t looking for an actual answer.

Charlette nodded. “Yes, you should.”

“You’re welcome to talk to me anytime.” Donald slid two plants that he had most definitely already prepared onto the windowpane.

“Can I ask you something?” Charlette stepped out of his way.

He nodded.

“What happened to the triplets’ mother?” She asked. She was curious and no one had really told her anything. The boys and Webby had only whispered about finding out what had happened, but even their little hunt was kept a secret from Charlette.

Donald rotated one of the potted plants, trying to think of what he should answer with. No matter what he says, it won’t change the fact that his sister is _gone_. It won’t change how he feels about it. Telling Charlette won’t change anything. “She’s gone.”

Charlette remained silent, gone to her meant _dead_. The last time she was told someone was gone, they had died – what else was gone supposed to mean?

“When that happened, the family fell apart. I took the boys and left.”

“I’m glad the boys have you.” She takes the potted plant away from Donald. “Like I said, I’ve never seen anyone more dedicated to their family than you. You’ve done a wonderful job with them. I’m sure they’re proud to call you their uncle. I don’t remember my mother at all, anytime I was asked about my parents, I could only think of Scrooge. I’m sure the boys are the same, which isn’t a bad thing as long as you’re a better parent than Scrooge.” She smiles and places the plant back down.

Donald returns her smile. If she could understand one thing, it was to be raised by someone other than a parent. “You really don’t like how Scrooge raised you.”

“I’ll keep implying that until I’m dead.” She picked up a paint brush and grinned. “Shall we make this houseboat the cleanest houseboat you have ever laid eyes on?”

~~~

The triplets walked up to the boat just as Donald and Charlette had come to finishing Donald’s fix-it project. Donald noticed their presence and was glad to show off his and his aunt’s work. ““Back so soon? Well, ta-dah! She’s all done.” He opened his arms to show his work. He quickly noticed that the boys were not in the best of moods. “Uh… what happened to you?”

Dewey crossed his arms. “We know about the Spear of Selene.” He was upset, and he let it be known.

“Oh.” Donald looked away from the kids with an upset expression, avoiding even looking at Charlette, who had no idea what any of that meant.

Charlette leaned over and whispered, “The Spear of Selene?”

The kids walked aboard the boat. As they passed Donald, Louie said: “Let’s go back to the Marina.” As all three of them had passed Donald, one of them bumped into one of his potted plants and knocked it down. He sighed as he looked at the damage.

“Maybe I should go…” Charlette said in a low voice. She quietly walked off the houseboat. She looked back, seeing how upset Donald had gotten at the mention of this Spear of Selene issue. The boys were obviously upset about it too… She made her way back into the manor and went to find someone who will give her answers.

“Goodbye, dear. There are step-by-step instructions in the kitchen and laundry room for you. Webbigail and I will be using our vacation days.” Bentina walked past Charlette with Webby in tow. Before Charlette could even ask anything, they were already around the corner. Even Duckworth’s’ ghost avoided her. She took a deep breath and wandered further down the hall and into Scrooge’s study. She picked his hat up off the desk and walked into the next room.

“Get out.” Scrooge didn’t even look up to see who it was that came to bother him.

“What is going on? I thought you lot were going on some vacation-adventure… the boys come back and tell Donald they know about the Spear of Selene or whatnot. What even is that? Mrs. Beakley is dragging Webby out of the manor and Duckworth completely avoids me!” She grips the brim of his hat and looks at him. All she wants is an answer.

“I said: get out.”

She remained silent and she remained in the doorway.

“Get. Out.”

“No – not this time. It has always been “Not now, Charlette” “Later, Charlette” “I’m busy, Charlette”. Not this time. I want an answer, I want to talk for once.” She stepped forward, not taking no for an answer. Left out of the loop, uninformed, blind – she was growing tired of her brother’s way of handling things. Alone.

They hadn’t argued at all since she had reappeared in his life. The only yelling was usually between Scrooge and Donald, Scrooge and the kids, Donald and the kids, the kids and themselves really. Bentina never raised her voice. No one raised their voices at Charlette. Charlette never raised her voice at anyone.

Scrooge thought something was different about Charlette when she returned after all those years and questionable disappearance. She didn’t run headfirst into anything that was thrown at her, and why should she? There is some obvious fear and anxiety that she had locked away from Scrooge for whatever _stupid_ reason she had this time. She didn’t argue when something didn’t go her way or when she was told to help withs something. She didn’t see anything wrong with Bentina’s house rules (unlike Donald, who at first, thought he was above the rules). Scrooge quickly came to realize Charlette was the same girl he had lost just a little more cautious than she would normally be. She seemed to always be willing to fight with him unless they were on some kind of adventure. His reasonings were wrong, his parenting was flawed… they never saw eye-to-eye and Scrooge could never figure out why or what he ever did.

Scrooge didn’t make it particularly easy for anyone to be around him either. Charlette used to love to see him because his presence was so rare. Everyone was always so angry; he was never angry on the outside (maybe a little on the inside). He really proved himself to be a McDuck when they did fight.

The more he fought with her the less he wanted to deal with her which was the reasoning behind pushing her away. It was never his intention to shut her out.

“I’m tired of being lied to.”

That was _it_. “If you can’t stand the idea of somebody else needing time, then leave with the rest of them. I have been nothing but kind to you; I let you into my home – I gave you a home. You antagonize me just like the rest of them. Well let me tell you something.” He walked her right out of the room. “I never asked for a protégé. I never wanted a protégé. You and I wouldn’t be arguing if you had just stayed home with Matilda and Hortense and listened to them. You were never supposed to be _my_ responsibility.”

She stood in the hall, barely recognizing the fact that she had walked backwards into the hall. “Say it.”

“You are nothing but another burden to me.”


	3. The Shadow War

“Wait, where’s Dewey?!” Donald placed the snack tray back down on the ledge and ran around the corner, worried that the missing household member was up to some usual mischief – like stealing the boat. He paused mid-run.

Charlette pointed to Dewey. “There.”

“Right here.” Dewey pointed to himself. “Not stealing the boat this time.” Dewey sat on the stairs, next to a very large life vest. He glanced at Charlette. He felt like he was the only that that was mad – even unintentionally – at Charlette for her return. _Why did she get to come back, and his mom didn’t? How is that fair?_

“Wait – this time?” She thought for a moment. Everyone let her think and look stupid. “Oh – oh, the reason Donald had to fix the boat in the first place.”

Dewey looked at her with disappointment because of how long it took her to remember that it would be Dewey that would be the death or everyone. “Anyway… back to the good ol’ days.” He rested his head in his hands. “Woo-oo.” He cheered unenthusiastically. He grabbed the vest next to him and put it over his head. It was far too bulky for his small body – to the point he was unable to put his arms down and it squished his cheeks.

“There’s nothing wrong with the good ol’ days, right?” Charlette smiled, looking between the kids and Donald.

“Woo-oo.” Huey and Louie followed Dewey’s unenthusiastic cheer with their own.

Donald looked at the boys, and Webby, then back at Charlette. He hated to inform her that _the good ol’ days_ to her were far different from _the good ol days_ to them. “Well…”

Webby, still holding the _disgusting_ fish and cracker snack from Donald in her mouth, tried to “Woo-oo” with them but ultimately spit the snack into the box that she was holding (not to mention, surprised Louie with that disgusting display).

Charlette looked over at Donald after watching Webby. “Can I talk to you inside?” She rubbed her arm.

Donald looked at her and nodded. The kids will be fine on the deck alone. She dragged him inside and stood silently in front of him. He couldn’t tell whether or not what she wanted to say was bad or if she was just having a hard time saying it. Either way, he was no stranger to hiding emotions (and clearly neither was she). They looked at each other with the same knowing expression nearly anytime something went sideways. Right now, it was just unnerving considering the event that took place just 3 days ago. Maybe Donald really didn’t know what she was about to say and maybe that scared him.

“You’ve been a big help these past few days and you will continue to be one.” Donald blurted out. The thought was just on his mind and he had no idea what to do or say in the uncomfortable silence that his aunt had created.

“I was just thinking about that. You know you don’t have to try to squeeze me into the houseboat with all of you just because I’ve been helpful. I’ve made a few friends that _may_ – or may _not_ – be willing to help out until I don’t need anyone to help me anymore. Mrs. Beakley might be more than willing for the time being, besides, that would give Webby someone to do things with.” Charlette crossed her arms and looked everywhere but at Donald. She felt awful about accepting Donald’s offer without hesitation. In that moment she felt like had nowhere else to go or no one else to turn to (when that wasn’t entirely true). The truth is she wants to be with her family… and she had come to realize that the first ones to truly treat her as such was her 4 nephews.

Donald understood where she was coming from but that was most definitely not going to stop him from taking her in (and using her as a live-in babysitter). “Don’t try to get out of this. The boys have loved every second of you being with us – even these past three days have been… easier.” He frowned. Maybe _easier_ was not the best word for it but it was the only word that Donald could find to try to make her understand that she was needed and wanted there.

Donald was the last person in the world to let someone from his own family be alone, especially a family member in need. Charlette was clueless, afraid (more so on the inside), and needed time to learn and adjust to new things. Donald had raised 3 boys, what’s helping a 19-year-old adjust to a new life? She was a struggle to fit into the houseboat, but with time the 5 of them should be able to make the living situation work. The boat looked small, but in reality, it is a lot bigger than one would assume, making the transition easier for all of them – but really isn’t the issue.

“I hate to brag but I have less belongings than all of you.” She smiled, trying to lighten the mood a bit. She dramatically flipped her hair behind her shoulders – it was a painful sight because she had to repeat the hair flip a few times before it worked out.

She was absolutely grateful for Donald being one of the most passionate and devoted. He is there for her when Scrooge isn’t. Donald isn’t telling her “Not now”, “Later”, “I’m busy” or anything that would slip out of Scrooge’s mouth. She doesn’t feel as alone now that she feels like she’s family.

Donald rolled his eyes at her quip. “That’s not what I – oh forget it.” Donald hands Charlette a brochure of Cape Suzette. “On a serious note, the boys have always wanted to go; moving there will be a nice change.”

“Cape Suzette?” Charlette looked through the brochure. “Oh! Well, it looks like a very clean and lovely place… at least from this. I’d love to see it. I’ve only ever lived in Glasgow and Duckburg – I think it will be a nice change for all of us.” She was slightly impressed with what the brochure had about Cape Suzette. While none of it was as fun or exciting as their life in Duckburg, it would be good for all of them. Donald could find a much better job than somehow landing a job with Flintheart Glomgold. Charlette could even get out into the world and work one day; it was a much calmer place, and it would be easier for her to adjust to the 21st century there.

Donald glanced at the kids from the window on the door, watching them throw their souvenirs overboard. “I haven’t told them yet.”

“Let’s tell them!” Charlette’s mood did a complete 180 turn and she grinned. She threw open the door with the brochure in hand. “Lads! Donald has great news for you!” She dragged her nephew out onto the deck.

“Where have you boys always wanted to go?” Donald asked after being put on the spot.

Louie, in scuba gear being held down by Huey and Dewey, pointed into the water. “Into the water to go get my Khopesh?”

Charlette looked over at the water and looked at everything the boys tossed over. “Ah, well… there’s a lot of things in the water.”

“What? No – Cape Suzette! We’re moving tomorrow.” Donald told them and grabbed the brochure from Charlette. He held the brochure out to them, urging them to take it and read it.

Charlette came back into the conversation. “Well, isn’t that a short notice…”

“A new town!” Huey took the brochure.

“Cape Suzette! Here we come!” Dewey celebrated as if the town were able to hear him and as if the town had to prepare for their arrival.

“Ugh, finally.” Louie cheered with his siblings. “It was nice living with you Charlette, but there is no way Uncle Donald would take all 5 of us.”

Charlette and Donald shared a look.

“Uh, actually… Donald and I did talk about that and because I’m family – with nowhere to go – the offer has been extended to me. I’m moving with you guys!” She grinned, more than excited after seeing them react so positively about the move.

“Live-in babysitter.” The triplets said together, killing her mood instantly.

Donald sighed. “She needs a babysitter too!”

“A what now?” Charlette looked at them after nearly falling out of the boat from leaning too far towards the water.

Donald face palmed and looked at her, wondering where _she_ went wrong in her life.

“Aunt Charlette fits right in.” Huey pulled her away from the ledge. “We’ll babysit her instead.”

~~~

Webby pushed Donald and the boys to the dining room table where she had already set the table with a culinary disaster, that resembled Duckburg fit with cookies shaped like the McDuck family, that she had created with little help from Launchpad. Charlette wasn’t far behind the excitable duckling. “Come on, guys, you're gonna be late for the greatest dinner of all time! A culinary journey through Duckburg! Every bite reminding you how much you love this town you're leaving behind for some dumb reason!” Webby insisted.

Launchpad set down a tray of melted popsicles. “Mm, the "family-tini", an old family recipe. Tastes like the loving embrace of family.” He drank one. “Ahh…”

Huey picked up a stick from one of the cups and inspected it briefly, noticing it was just a popsicle stick. “Are these melted popsicle cups?”

Charlette reached for one and sipped it. She stuck her tongue out in disgust, green was by far on of her least favorite flavors. Blue or orange would have been better in her opinion.

“The stirrer has a riddle on it. Yeah, you won't get fancy stuff like this in Cape Suzette.” Launchpad pointed out, feeling proud of himself for his contribution to the guilt-trip dinner.

“That's probably for the best.” Bentina descended down the stairs.

Everyone turned around, not expecting her to have come for the farewell party.

She approached the table with a bowl in her hands. “I heard there was a farewell party. I brought ambrosia salad.”

“Real food!” Charlette piped up, she grabbed the bowl from Bentina and placed it on the table in the culinary disaster.

“I thought you would be happy about something like this, dear. From the looks of it, this was very much needed.” Bentina looked at the culinary Duckburg. “I hear that you are staying with Donald.” She looked back at Charlette.

She nodded. “I am, I’m excited.” She slipped away from the table to grab herself a real drink from the kitchen.

Webby gathered everyone around the table and grabbed a popsicle drink. “A toast! The dictionary defines "family" as "a group of people bound together by commitment and unwavering loyalty." So, let's each say one nice thing about a particular relative of ours. Ahem. Boys?” She looked at the triplets, anticipating their response to be about Scrooge.

Dewey rolled his eyes. “Ugh, fine. I'll go with Uncle Donald, because well, because he's actually devoted to his family. Unlike other people…” He leaned back and crossed his arms.

Charlette agreed. “He’s very kind and selfless too.”

Huey looked over at Dewey, then at Charlette and Louie. “Yeah, and he's thoughtful.” He looked over at Donald.

“Don't forget passionate.” Louie said, looking at his brothers.

Charlette raised a finger. “I have one more – Donald is irreplaceable. There will never be anyone else like him.”

“We could keep going.” Huey said.

Donald leaned forward with every compliment and looked at all the appreciative kids surrounding him. “D’aww.”

“I like his sailor getup!” Launchpad added.

“Ugh! Okay, we all love Donald. But how about a relative that is not in this room, who is over 80, and is very, very rich?” Webby leaned on the table and tried to push the conversation in a certain direction. She stripped Donald of his spotlight in favor of trying to get _her_ family back together. In doing so, she made herself and Launchpad look suspicious (which wasn’t terribly noticeable until now).

Dewey stared getting suspicious of their friends. “Why are you guys acting so weird?” He squinted his eyes, looking between them.

“Uh, we're not!” Launchpad defended their behavior. “Emergency bounce house!” He pulled out a bounce house and opened it up in the dining room (breaking a few things in the process).

~~~

Launchpad and Charlette push the door closed on the bounce house that he had opened inside the boat.

“That was… interesting.” Charlette slide down the door. “Whew…”

Launchpad walked back towards the table. “I’ll say!”

Bentina set a plate down on the table in front of the boys and Donald. “Apple shortbread pie with a scoop of sea salt ice cream. A common farewell dessert in certain parts.”

Dewey grinned upon looking at the plate. “Finally, some real food.” The triplets grouped together and looked at the dish.

“That’s what I’m saying!” Charlette slid back next to Louie. “Wait… what’s this? Dessert?”

Louie nudged her arm. “Don’t deny dessert.”

Bentina looked at the dish and took it away. “Oh, I'm so sorry. This was _Scrooge's_ favorite dessert.” She turned her back to the table and just barely kept an eye on the boys. “Oh, I don't want to remind you of that horrid man who lost your mother all those years ago,” she said. She turned to face them again. “Even if it was an accident that tore him up for ten years, propelling him into a desperate search attempt that left him broken and nearly bankrupt.” She explained his efforts. She made her voice crack at the end for the added emotional effect – just typical spy _and_ grandmother manipulation things.

Charlette shifted uncomfortably where she was sitting. She had a bad feeling about what was going on. “Oh…”

“Wait, bankrupt? Really?” Louie looked at Bentina, shocked to learn how wrong they were about Scrooge.

Bentina continued: “But I understand, you're upset because you lost one family member, which was terrible and painful, so you decided you should go ahead and lose another. Brilliant. Makes perfect rational sense.”

“Yeah – nailed it Mrs. B.” Dewey said, proudly. He stood separate from his brothers. They were visibly upset – meaning Bentina’s trick was working on some of them – and Dewey was stubborn. He wanted to be angry with Scrooge, after all it was Scrooge’s fault that they had lost their mother in the first place. Scrooge made one horrible decision after another.

“Yes, distance yourself even further from his life and forsake family altogether. That will definitely fix it.” She said.

Launchpad slammed his fists on the table and protested. “No! It'll do the opposite of that!”

“Perhaps it's worth considering that the reason Scrooge closed himself off was because the loss of Della was the hardest thing he'd ever faced, harder than any adventure. It's not that he didn't care, it's that he cared about family more than anything in the world. And perhaps he still does. But I'm just the housekeeper. What do I know?” She concluded. She placed this dish back onto the table.

Louie rested his arms on the table. He furrowed his eyebrows – _losing Della was the hardest thing Scrooge faced? What about losing Charlette?_

Charlette looked at Bentina. “I think the weight of losing Della mixed with knowing that he stripped three boys of their mother may have played a role in his behavior…”

“A lot! This lady knows a lot!” Launchpad answered Bentina, putting a hand on Bentina’s shoulder. “Charlette knows a lot too!” He placed his other hand on Charlette’s shoulder.

Donald looked at Charlette, the added perspective really made him think.

She raised her glass of melted popsicle and drank some of it. “Now let's toast to a fine farewell meal, topped with a dash of _perspective_.”

Dewey caught onto her charade and Charlette’s unrehearsed added perspective. “So, this whole thing was to guilt us into going back to the mansion? Well, it's not gonna work. Sorry, but it's too late. We're going to Cape Suzette with our real family, and that's that, right Uncle Donald, Aunt Charlette?” He crossed his arms and looked between the one adult and the one person he needed on his side. If Dewey could get Charlette on his side, he could rope everyone into agreeing with him.

Charlette looked away from Dewey, knowing there was no way she could continue to agree with him after thinking deeply about the situation and thinking out loud.

Donald looked at the boys for a moment. “No. Ms. B's right. Uncle Scrooge needs us, and we need him. Our family has been apart too long. It's time for us to come together. Come here, all of you.” Donald stood up from the table and opened his arms for the boys and Charlette.

Huey and Louie went running into Donald’s arms. Dewey stayed at the table with Charlette. “Wait, wait, wait! But – but the spear, and mom, and... and –!” He bawled his fists and crossed his arms. He wants nothing more than to be mad at Scrooge, at family, at his mom, at Charlette. Instead, he looks at them with tears forming in his eyes. He can’t be mad at any of them, including Charlette. Scrooge had never meant to lose Della and take her away from everyone. Dewey climbed over the table and joined the hug, sobbing.

Louie peers back at Bentina, Webby, Launchpad, and Charlette. He made eye contact with Charlette. She stalls before she finds herself part of a family hug.

“Family…” Launchpad starts.

“…Trapped!” Webby high-fives him.

“Let’s go back to the mansion.” Dewey sobs.

The houseboat rumbles, meaning one of two things... Trouble with the houseboat or trouble outside. They all run to the deck to be met with maniacal laughter, a purple beacon, a shadowy vortex, and trouble.

“Awh Phooey.” Donald and Charlette said in perfect unison.

“Bad?” Huey looked up at his aunt and uncle.

“Bad.” Charlette breathed out. Her shadow tapped her shoulder. “EEP!” She jumped back into Donald. Donald pushed her back to her feet as they watched the rest of the shadows rise up and make their way to the swirling shadow vortex that was headed towards the Money Bin.

“Cape Suzette?” Louie looked at them.

Charlette nodded. “Cape Suzette.”

“Cool, yeah – I’ll start the boat.” Louie shared a look with Huey – who was still in shock – and walked away to start the boat.

They gasped at the destruction that was being caused to the Money Bin. The shadow vortex was used as a shadow wrecking-ball vortex and was slammed into the Money Bin, knocking down the side and the roof. The destruction revealed just how much gold Scrooge had – and just how much of it was now vulnerable (not much, considering Magica was now on top of the gold).

Bentina gasped and looked at Donald (who was as equally as shocked as she was to see who they are about the face off with). “Magica De Spell!”

“Wait who?” Dewey briefly glanced back at Donald and Bentina.

Charlette pointed at Magica and swirled her finger next to her head.

“Crazy, got it.” Dewey nodded.

“No – well, yes. Magica De Spell. A vile sorceress with a mysterious, ancient grudge against Clan McDuck.” Webby turned to face Donald, Bentina, and Launchpad. The triplets and Charlette circled around her to listen to the rest. “She was Scrooge's bitterest rival, but no one's seen her since they fought on Mount Vesuvius 15 years ago.” Webby explained. Thank goodness for her weird obsession with the McDuck family.

“We’re all going to Cape Suzette, right?” Charlette pointed back to the boat that they were on. “Not just… us. But all of us.” She motioned to the others who were not part of the move.

Bentina shook her head and stepped forward to make an action plan. “We all need to keep cool heads. We need to help Scrooge before anything else –.”

A figure that resembled a seaweed monster threw it arm over the ledge. The group yelped and stepped away from the emerging monster.

“Take my brothers first, please!” Louie cried, pushing Huey and Dewey towards the sea monster.

The sea monster climbed in the boat and removed the abundance of seaweed from itself and was revealed to be Manny, the headless man horse (now with a statue head of Scrooge).

“Oh.” Donald said, a little too disappointedly. He sounded as though he _wanted_ Manny to have been a sea monster.

Charlette and Huey shared a laugh (mostly at Louie’s reaction – although Charlette would have done the same).

“It’s just Manny!” Huey said, excited and relieved.

Manny pulled Gyro Gearloose into the boat. “That's it! No more underwater labs. It's volcanoes or abandoned castles from now on!” He angrily got up and released the water from his hat. Lil’ Bulb, standing on the edge, did the same by unscrewing his head and letting the water drain out.

“Wouldn’t a lab in a volcano be… hot?” Charlette asked.

Gyro scoffed and brushed his sleeves off. “Not if you build your lab correctly.”

“Dr. Gearloose, what happened?” Huey stepped forward and asked.

“Well, if you must know, our own shadows came to life and destroyed the lab.” He realized that some people, namely Huey, were aware that he was working on a shadow-related invention. He stopped Huey before he could say anything about it. “Ah, ah – my shadow control ray is still in the test phase so this one is not on me.”

Charlette looked at Gyro like he was mad – which in fact he was nothing but a mad scientist and possibly a friend. She looked at the trouble happening behind Gyro and his team. “So, this is just what we do, eh? Ignore the problem and just stand around and talk?”

“You are very Scottish.” Gyro pointed out.

“Yes, yes, I am.” Charlette nodded, still looking at the trouble. “Why was that important?”

Donald stood in front of everyone. “Alright, everybody listen up!” He tried to make a very compelling pep-talk to hype everybody up to help Scrooge and defeat Magica – however, his speech came out as unintelligible.

“What in the goddamn –.” Charlette started accidentally tuning him out because she was unable to understand what she was being told. All she could see was his exaggerated movements.

Launchpad put his hand up. “Did anybody catch any of that?”

Huey waved it off. “It’s mostly context clues for us.”

“We get, like, every third word.” Louie added.

Charlette furrowed her eyebrows. “Every third? I usually get all of what he is trying to say but I got none of it this time. I’m actually impressed with that.”

“Yeah, completely unintelligible.” Dewey nodded.

Donald got angry and started chasing Dewey (Ah – family). “I’ll show you unintelligible!”

“Ugh – we’ve got no time for this.” He pulled a metal pill capsule out of his pocket and proudly showed it off. “The Barksian Modulator. Able to translate neural impulses into sonic transmissions.”

The group looked at Gyro and his metal pill capsule in confusion. Science was not entirely their forte, especially not Launchpad’s.

Gyro sighed. “It’s a voice box.”

“Oh, okay – Barksian Modulator.” Louie nodded.

“Oh, okay – yeah good idea.” Huey said.

Webby looked between Louie, Huey, and Gyro. “What took you so long?”

Charlette mumbled to herself, “Barksian Modulator?”

Gyro grabbed Donald by the back of his shirt and pulled him away from chasing Dewey. Gyro then opened Donald’s beak and forced the modulator into his mouth and down his throat. Donald squirmed away from Gyro. “HANDS OFF ME –.” His voice suddenly changed to a warm sounding voice. One of those nice Audiobook voices. Maybe a nice radio host voice or a voice acting voice. “– YOU MAD SCIENTIST.” Donald stopped mid-Donald-freak-out due to the sound of his own new voice.

They all look at Donald in awe.

“I could listen to that voice forever.” Charlette blinked.

Louie nodded. “I know right? It’s a nice sound.”

“He sounds so normal.” Dewey added.

Donald started to speak, growing excited about his new voice. “Rubber baby.... buggy bumpers, rubber baby buggy bumpers, rubber baby buggy bumpers, ha-ha! Wow, never been able to say that before!” He cleared his throat. “As I was saying, Uncle Scrooge is in trouble, and it's up to us to help him. Adventure is in our blood. We face down perilous foes and endless dangers every day, but we always prevail. Because these. Ducks. Don't. Back. Down.” He concluded his pep-talk.

Bentina stepped forward. “Thank you, Donald. Now we need a plan.”

“I’ve got one.” Charlette raised her hand.

“No.” Donald shut her down immediately. Not to bring her down or anything, but this was more serious than the kids and Charlette knew.

“What we need to do is –.” Bentina was cut off by Donald.

“– stage a coordinated attack. Gyro, you and your team will charge the bridge to distract Magica's shadow forces.” Donald pointed at Gyro and his small team. He then pointed upwards. “Launchpad. Head up the air attack to draw her attention. Do you think you can crash into the bin?”

Launchpad, and everyone else, laughed at the question. The answer was yes, he could crash into the bin – crashing was Launchpads superpower.

Donald motioned for everyone to settle down. “All right, all right, all right.” He cleared his throat again. “And Beakley, while the others are distracting Magica, you and I will sneak around back in my newly fixed-up houseboat.” He proudly concluded his plan.

Bentina stared at him for a moment, shocked at the idea he had some up with. “Well, that was actually very close to what I was going to say.”

“What about me?” Charlette looked at Donald.

“And us?” Dewey nudged Charlette for not mentioning _all_ of the names he had left out. The 4 kids excitedly waited to hear what Donald had in store for them.

Donald ushered them off the boat. He tossed a life vest to Charlette and put the 4 kids in life vests of their own. “Will stay here. And stay out of trouble and out of danger. Charlette, I am counting on you to keep them here. Can you do that?”

“Yes, Donald.” She put the life vest on glumly. She knew it was for the best to play along, but she was genuinely upset that she was not given a better job.

“Oh, come on!” Webby tried to protest.

“But –.” Dewey was cut short.

Donald stood on the deck of the houseboat and looked at the 5 of them. “This isn't an adventure. This is Magica De Spell. Under no circumstances are you kids to come to the bin. Do you understand?”

“Yes.” Webby nodded.

“Yes, Uncle Donald,” the triplets said in unison.

Donald looked at Charlette who hadn’t said anything yet. “Charlette, I know you want nothing more than to go on an adventure – but this is not it.”

“I know. We’ll stay here.” She gave him a sad look.

Donald saluted the kids and he and Bentina left with the boat. As soon as they were out of sight all 5 of them threw off the life vests. Charlette pulled her utility belt from the side of the dock.

“So, we’re totally sneaking into the Money bin, right?” Dewey looked at the group.

Charlette nodded. “I’m going to sneak in through the top where Magica broke through. I’m trusting you kids to meet me inside the bin before Donald and Mrs. Beakley get there.”

“How are you – how are we going to defeat an entire army of shadows?” Huey looked at Charlette, pointing at the darkness clouding the Money Bin.

Charlette thought for a moment. “Well, we will need two strategies if we are going to split up. You need someone to help you break into places. Who do you know?”

Webby perked up. “You mean our noble teen ne'er-do-well who can break into anything including your heart?”

“Who do we know that’s like that?” Dewey asked.

“Lena!” Webby and Huey said together.

“It’s Lena.” Charlette and Louie said together.

Dewey nodded. “Lena right, I was going to say Lena. Great.” He crossed his arms.

“Split up team – see you inside the bin!” Charlette jumped in the water and swam.

~~~

Charlette threw herself onto the shore – she had swum all the way behind the bin to ensure that no one would be able to see or detect her presence as all of the focus was at the front, facing the bridge. She launched her grappling hook to the highest window it could go to and started raising herself up by walking up the building and shortening the wire. She had to get creative because of the lack of supplies, lack of experience, and having been out of the game for so long. She held onto the window ledge once she reached it and launched her hook again – she was hoping it was going to make the next window or open crack considering how close she was to the building.

“Damn!” She hissed, watching her grappling hook fall back. She had no choice but to climb up by hand. She had no problem doing so, but she had no idea how long it was going to take her to get so high up. She was lucky to have made it this far with her favorite tool. Once she reached the top, she launched her grappling hook over the roof of the bin and slowly pulled herself up. She looked down at Magica, who was sitting on a throne of gold. If she were to say that wasn’t cool, she would be lying. She lay there, thinking of how she was going to get herself down into the gold to foil Magica. Her thought process didn’t last long before Magica flew up next to her.

“Awh phooey…” Charlette was face to face with the green sorceress. “Magica De Spell, yes? Pleasure to meet you. I’m part of the reason you are going to fail today.”

Magica smiled slyly. “Arrogant, aren’t we?” She laughed, seeing the fear in Charlette’s eyes. “I trapped your brother for being lousy and pathetic and I will trap you for your arrogance.”

“Usually I’m trapped for my insolence, so this is new.” Charlette looked at Magica.

She shook her head at what Charlette said to her. “Insolence? Don’t flatter yourself, you’re nothing like your brother. You may have the arrogance of a McDuck, but you will never be a true McDuck. You’re nothing but a girl who thinks she can defeat me and save the day and win her brother over again.” Magica began monologuing.

Charlette saw Magica’s monologuing as an opportunity to kick her. She swung her leg and kicked Magica to the side. She slid down the roof of the bin and held onto the ledge. “Mistakes were made!”

Scrooge’s lucky dime floated next to Charlette as Magica appeared. “Scrooge what do you say we watch her fall to her doom together. It’s not like you haven’t seen her fall before – this time you’ll actually be able to see her land.”

Charlette kept a tight grip on the ledge, trying to weigh her options. Before she could figure out what to do, Magica knocked her hands off the ledge and sent her plummeting. She held a hand next to her head and listened to the sweet sound of Charlette McDuck falling to her doom.

Charlette launched her grappling hook at the ledge and it caught. She pulled herself back up. “You can throw me off as long as you want – but I will always come back. I’m a McDuck – we don’t stay down for long.”

Magica threw her off again. And again. And again. Charlette came back to the ledge each time she was thrown away. “Fine. If I can’t get rid of you like the parasite that you are, then I will simply trap you and save you for last.” She created a sphere around Charlette and returned to her throne of gold.

Charlette banged her fists against the sphere that floated behind the throne. “I will get out of here!”

“What are you doing? Stop that!” Magica shook the sphere.

Charlette sat down after being knocked around and crossed her arms. “You won’t win.”

Charlette watched as the Sunchaser flew towards the bin – Launchpad would be able to do it! She lit up and pressed her hands against the sphere and watched intently. She was disappointed when Magica sent shadow arm after shadow arm to deter Launchpad, making it impossible for him to _crash the party_.

Magica laughed, taunting Scrooge: “Oh, looks like your family's come to play. Say goodbye, McDuck. Mwah ha! Fore!” She kept turning Launchpad away, she hit the water to discourage Donald and Bentina, and she hit the bridge to discourage Gyro and his team. “Home run! Tennis thing! Sports!” She laughed.

“No –.” Charlette watch with sadness.

A pair of shadows flew Gyro up to the bin. He looked at the disaster that was made up there. Magica just barely above a gold and treasure throne, Scrooge in a coin, and Charlette in a magical sphere.

Magica raised her staff. “At last! One of Scrooge's beloved nephew – wait, who are you?” She lowered her staff slightly.

Gyro struggled against the shadows that were holding him. “I'm Scrooge's number one scientist.”

Magica turned to Scrooge. “Blink once if this guy is a good friend, twice if he's just a work acquaintance.” She watched Scrooge blink twice.

“Awh…” Gyro looked down just before Magica lasted him away.

“GYRO!” Charlette shrieked. She was unaware that he had only landed in the water. “No!”

Magica laughed. “Oh, you poor thing, trapped in a bubble. Can’t save anyone, can’t do anything. Pathetic – helpless!”

Charlette looked down and noticed that her tools were just barely hanging out of the sphere. She suddenly had a brilliant idea. “If you set me free, I’ll do anything you want. Please.”

Magica grinned. “Help me destroy your brother and everything he loves.”

Charlette thought for a moment. “I was just going to say that I would have to destroy myself but then I remembered that he doesn’t love me. I was never really loved by my family.”

“That was a little too depressing.” Magica paused.

She shrugged. “Well, I put too much thought into it.”

Magica turned her back on Charlette and watched her shadows fight off the boat and the intruders on the bridge. “Perhaps I could use you. You would be the perfect spy. Much better than _Lena_.”

“I will let you know that I am very bad at lying.” Charlette took a shot at Magica’s staff. She temporarily disarmed Magica, rid herself of the trap, and fell into the gold.

“You little –!” Magica grabbed ahold of her staff once more and tried to hit Charlette with some spells. Charlette deflected them with some artifacts lying around in the gold surrounding her.

Charlette grinned, watching the kids walk into view. “I was nothing but the distraction.”

Magica turned around and saw the children. She shot down the ledge they were walking on. Webby used her grappling hook to grab into the rail and swing them all down onto the gold next to Charlette.

“Was it that reverse psychology you were talking about?” Charlette asked.

Louie nodded. “He got us good. I don’t know why I didn’t see it.”

Magica stood on her golden throne and looked down at all 5 ducks. “Ooh, look. Children.” She created a sphere around herself and floated down, landing before them. “Looking for this? Come and get it.” She held out Scrooges lucky dime and prepared her staff to fight. Just because they were _children_ , doesn’t mean she was going to play fair. She laughed; her magical staff began glowing.

Dewey stood front and center. “Give us back our uncle!”

She relaxed her posture and shrugged. “Oh, he's trapped forever inside the thing he loves most. Sorry.”

“Food?” Charlette asked.

“No – you need to stop this.” Magica threw Charlette into the wall for being _annoying_. She sent a spell towards the kids.

“Split up!” Webby yelled. She dodged the attack.

Huey ran past her and looked at her with a worried glance. “Then what?!”

“Dewey what we do best! Make trouble!” Dewey laughed as he slid down a gold pile.

Louie sighed. “I’ll get Charlette.” Louie ran through the gold to help Charlette up.

“I deserved that one.” She groaned. “Walls hurt when something that isn’t you throws you into them.”

Louie pulled her to her feet and dragged her back towards everyone. “Less complaining, more saving Scrooge.”

Magica looked for the children who have all hid for a moment.

Huey jumped out beside her and did what he does best: ask questions! “Hey, couple of questions for you.” Magica growled and cast a spell towards Huey – who dodged behind gold. “If you were caught in the dime, how come we never saw you in it?” He popped up on one side, evaded another spell and hide again. “Also, Scrooge isn't exactly magical, so how did he manage to trap you in – ahh!” He slipped down a pile of gold, evading yet another attack from Magica. He appeared next to her again. “Follow up –.”

Magica yelped in surprise, “Augh!”

“How does the lunar eclipse factor into all this?” Huey asked.

Magica straightens her posture and starts to answer. “Well, you see I channel my powers...” Her eyes widen and she realizes what he is up to. “It's just magic, okay?” She sends another spell in his direction and he avoids that one by running around her. She sends an attack towards a mirror image of Huey and breaks the mirror.

Louie appears, having been behind the mirror since before Magica broke it. “Oh no, you broke the mirror of Taiki!” Louie yelled out.

“What now?!” Magica asked, slightly startled by this event.

Louie looked at her like she was stupid and walks out from behind the mirror. “Ancient artifact? Terrible curse if you break it?” He dives into the gold.

“I've never heard of it, and I am versed in all magics. Gaelic, Demogorgon, Sumerian.” Magica said, flabbergasted, looking around for him. She sends spells after his gold trail.

Louie pops out of the gold and rests an arm on the pile. “Sumerian?” He smirks. “You were in that dime a long time,” he chuckled. “Well, good luck with the curse.” He dove back into the gold only to reappear in front of the mirror she broke.

“Wait what kind of curse?!” Magica demanded to know, she pulled out the dime she trapped Scrooge in, now worried.

Louie counted on his fingers. “Grave misfortune, increased gullibility, a swift kick in the ribs.”

“Wait what?” Webby caught her off guard by actually kicking her in the ribs. “Ack – my ribs!” By being kicked, she had dropped the dime.

Magica recovered from Webby’s blow, landed on her feet, and noticed how mad she was. “Ooh – someone’s mad!” She grinned, sending a spell at Webby.

Webby ducked and ran at Magica. She jumped up, and punched Magica in the face, sending her a step backwards. “I just got a family!” She swung again, narrowly missing. She hit Magica in the beak; she was sending her backwards with each hit. “I thought I had a best friend in Lena!” Webby punched the gem at the end of Magica’s staff. “You took that all away.” Webby preformed a kick flip, missing Magica that time but instead kicked her gut, sending her down.

Magica feared (or perhaps was stunned by) Webby’s ability and with good reason. No child should ever fight this good. She threw gold at Webby as she backed away. She used that distraction to get to her feet and run up the gold hill. She turned back around to send another attack towards Webby, only to realize she had disappeared.

“You are not a nice person!” Webby attacked Magica from behind, throwing her arms around her neck. Magica threw her off and tried to hit her with a spell. Webby was skill – she jumped over the spell, evading them as they came. Magica put up a shield as Webby tried to keep hitting her. From a distance she spots the dime, realizing she needs to grab it before one of them do. She used her magic, while still holding Webby off to bring the dime to her.

She grabs the dime, now seemingly equipped with more power, she casts Webby aside. “Lena couldn't be your friend, because she was never real!”

Webby stood back up. “I don’t believe you!”

Charlette threw Dewey over the gold pile that was standing between them and Magica. Magica tossed Dewey into Webby with her magic. She lifted Charlette up and held her where she caught Dewey. “Haven’t you learned anything by now?”

“Not a thing that I do.” She shrugged.

Magica tossed her aside and returned her attention to Webby. “You had sleepovers with a shadow. You gave it a friendship bracelet. Honestly, it's embarrassing how pathetic you were. Here, let me put you out of your misery.” Magica launched a spell at her and Dewey that was counteracted by Webby’s friendship bracelet.

“Get away from my best friend, Aunt Magica!” Lena appeared to them as a shadow through the friendship bracelet, making her a _good_ shadow.

Charlette waved from where she thrown. “Welcome to the party, Lena.”

“Lena?!” Webby looked shocked.

“Aunt? You're even worse than her! You aren't my family. You are nothing!” Magica told Lena as they fought back and forth. Lena did her best to keep Magica away from her friends – her real _family_. Lena tried to take the staff away from Magica. Her grip slipped, and Magica hit her with a spell – making her disappear once and for all.

Webby reached out and yelled: “No!” Webby ran at Magica once again and was met with a shield that was barely any match for her. The impact of her body sent Magica sliding backwards. Webby kept pounding on the shield. The impact made Magica drop the dime containing Scrooge.

Dewey went after the falling dime that held Scrooge. “I got it!” He ran off with the dime.

“No!” Magica let her guard down and was met with a full attack from Webby.

Dewey slid down a pile of gold and started to speak to Scrooge. “So, listen, Uncle Scrooge. I guess I get why you didn't tell us about our mom. Shuh! And maybe we should've realized that when we lost our mom, you lost her too. But –.” Dewey ducked from a spell. “GAH!” He got up and ran. “Okay, not the time for a heart-to-heart. Ahh!”

“Dewey!” Charlette scooped him up and ran with him, avoiding getting hit by Magica’s wild spells. “Next time we all make a plan, we start with luring the bad guy out of the gold because it’s hard to run in gold!”

Magica sent Webby flying, in order to chase after Dewey and Charlette. “That’s mine!” She stopped Charlette and Dewey in their tracks by creaking a claw-like hand out of the gold beneath them.

Charlette set Dewey down and stood in front of him. “Unfortunately for you, Magica, history will not see it that way.” She ran at Magica, only to slide next to her and yank her down by the leg. She threw herself to her feet and put her fists up with a different dime between her fingers. “It’s mine.”

“Give it here!” Magica pulled herself to her feet and sent three spells in a row towards Charlette that she dodged and jumped over to avoid. She dove into the gold and popped up behind Magica and gave her a roundhouse kick to the head, sending her flying to the side. “Augh!”

Magica growled, sending a spell towards Charlette again, who use the dime to deflect it. “No!” She watched in horror, only to realize the dime in Charlette’s hand was a fake. Charlette ran at Magica, planning to tackle her into a pile of gold, only to be tossed back towards Dewey, just narrowly missing him. “Give me what is mine.”

“No!” Dewey held the dime in front of him as Magica sent another spell.

The dime flew out of Dewey’s hands and unleashed Scrooge, the dime fell into his hand. He turned back to Dewey for a brief moment. “Yah! Thanks, lad.” He shared a smile with Dewey. Scrooge turned his attention back to Magica. “Way to dispel your own spell, De Spell.” He dodged an attack from Magica. “Ah, yah! you know, I ought to thank you.” He so effortlessly held his own again Magica whereas she struggled against him.

Magica scoffed. “For showing you how weak and pathetic you truly are? You're welcome.”

“Have you tried not being mean?” Charlette asked, only to be met with a simple spell that knocked her off her feet yet again.

Dewey sat next to her. “I think it’s time for you to stop talking.” He chuckled.

Scrooge effortlessly dodged the spells Magica was sending towards him simply by using his cane to push her staff out of his range. “If you hadn't attacked me, my family may well have left forever. By trying to destroy me, you sort of saved my family.”

Magica looked disgusted. “That’s not what happened.” Scrooge disarmed Magica and sent her staff flying.

“Your family only saved you –.” Charlette said.

“We only saved him because of Webby’s weird plan.” Dewey said.

“Oop – I got it!” Donald fell from the door to Scrooge’s office. He landed on the gold and the gem of the staff broke by landing on his thick skull. “Oof –.”

The crack from the gem glows, and the magic within it whirls around Magica, draining her of her powers. The shadows, the eclipse, and anything related to her magic disappears. The sky above them is dark and filled with stars and very few clouds.

“Ugh. Hmm! my powers! They're gone! You ruined everything!” She cried, continuously trying to use the powers that she no longer has.

“Sorry to crash the party.” Launchpad managed to crash himself on top of Magica. “Huh, never crashed a me before.” Launchpad came out from the gold and shrugged.

Magica pushed Launchpad off of her and crawled out of the gold. She turned to face Scrooge. “Curse you, McDuck! You haven’t seen the last of me!” She disappears in a flash (but in reality, she used the smoke from the smoke bomb that she threw as a distraction to run away).

Everyone cheered: “Woo!”

“Good show.” Bentina celebrated.

“We did it!” Donald cheered.

Bentina turned to Donald. ‘We sure did. Now about your boat –.” She started.

Charlette wrapped her arm around Donald’s neck. “Enough serious talk… We saved Scrooge! And more importantly the family as a whole.”

Donald nodded. “That we did… Running off from the kids was very stupid.”

Charlette shrugged. ‘Sometimes you need to split up. It was a necessary course of action. I distracted her long enough for you to push them into the bin.”

“Lena’s… gone…” Webby stood behind everyone with her friendship bracelet in her hands. She looked down at it, missing Lena.

The triplets gathered around Webby to cheer her up and be there for her. Huey motioned for Charlette to come over and help them.

“She might be _gone_ … but she sacrificed herself to save you.” Huey said.

Webby smiled through her sadness. “Heh… I guess she really was my best friend.”

“She’ll always be with you.” Dewey put a hand on her shoulder.

Charlette pulled Webby into a quick embrace. “She’ll always be with you, even if she isn’t here.” The triplets got in on the quick hug. They released Webby and all walked back towards the adults.

Scrooge turned to look at the boys. At first, he looked surprised, then angry, then: “Huey, Louie, the third one. Curse me kilts, have I missed you.”

The boys threw their arms around Scrooge – Webby was the last to join the hug and she was the one to bring them down. Nothings better than a hug on a pile of gold, right?

“Family truly is the greatest –.” Donald stopped to cough up the voice box.

Everyone cringed at the sight. “Ew…” Scrooge covered the voice box up with some gold.

Scrooge looked around at the mess and his family. “Anyone up for a midnight swim?”

They all shared a looked and dove into the gold.

Launchpad spits out some gold. “Yuck, don’t drink this water.”

Charlette wacked his arm. “It’s not water!”


End file.
